Monday, January 15, 2018

sermon at Emmanuel, Mercer Island, January 14, 2018

Last Sunday, Sabeth, in her sermon, got us started into the Epiphany season
            by defining the word itself as manifesting, shining forth.
Each Sunday during the season we hear in the Gospel reading
            examples of how Jesus manifested himself as the Light of the world.
We start with a star shining over the baby Jesus,
            and we end the season with the Transfiguration,
                        in which Jesus manifests a literal blinding white brilliance of light.

But first, today, consider for a moment the Old Testament reading.
It is the call of Samuel – and note this: the child didn’t get to decide his course.
            It was chosen for him.
Samuel was called to be a servant of God, a prophet to convey God’s message:
            first to Eli, the priest,
            then to Saul chosen as the first king,
            and later to David, the man after God’s own heart.
God called Samuel to be God’s servant and prophet.

We may think that we have chosen to be here this morning.
We usually are operating under the illusion of our own autonomy.
We are here because we are drawn here by God through Jesus.
John 12:32 – “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all people to myself.”

Like Samuel, we are put in the holy place,
            Samuel with the tabernacle where the Arc of the Covenant was kept,
                        and in the company of the priest.
Under that holy influence he was then open to hearing God’s call.


We also here are in a holy place,
            the reserve sacrament, the consecrated bread and wine,
                        in the tabernacle of the Ambry with the perpetual light
                        to indicate the Holy Presence.
When we come here week by week, we are put under the influence
            of holy words, of taking into our hands holy things,
                        of taking into ourselves the Body and Blood of Jesus.
We, like Samuel, are in a vulnerable place in which we may hear God’s call.

Hold that thought, and we now turn to the Gospel reading.

John’s Gospel account of the calling of the first disciples
            is far different from the Synoptic Gospel accounts:
                        accounts of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew, James and John,
            which you will get next Sunday from the Gospel of Mark.
In the Gospel reading for today we are coming in at the middle of a story.
It starts with two disciples of John the Baptist.
            John points to Jesus and says, “Behold the Lamb of God,”
and they head off after him
            drawn by their curiosity or whatever – they are drawn to him.
Jesus asks them what they seek.
            They want to know where he is coming from, what he is about,
            and he says to them, “Come and see.”
After spending a short time with him, mere hours,
            they are irresistibly drawn in.
They have been called.

Andrew, one of the two, goes and gets his brother Peter.
Then Philip gets called directly by Jesus.
Philip tells Nathaniel,
            and Nathaniel has his encounter with Jesus.

Each of them had their own title for Jesus, what the saw in Jesus –
            Messiah, Christ, Prophet, Son of God, King of Israel.
We are led to believe that these are their Epiphanies of Jesus,
            using that common usage of the word, meaning insight.

But, as Sabeth said in her sermon last week,
            the meaning of the word Epiphany is a shining forth,
                        a manifestation, a light of revelation.

Jesus doesn’t respond to any of those titles they give him.
Instead he presents to Nathaniel a whole new image and concept of himself,
                        a new way of manifesting God,
            a connecting point, between earth and heaven, as a ladder,
                        between the created, physical environment we live in
                        and the divine Presence of God.
Jesus reveals himself as “axis mundi,” the point where it all comes together,
            where God and humanity are joined in perfect union,
            where others can then access God through Jesus.
That is the Epiphany moment in this Sunday’s readings;
                        that is the Epiphany.

The Eastern Orthodox Church made much of that ladder.
Their chief theologian, their equivalent of Thomas Aquinas,
            St. John Climacus wrote The Ladder of Perfection,
                        Jesus as the perfection of union with God
                        giving us access to that same perfection of union,
                                    in which our humanity reaches its fulfillment.

You see, Jesus had a different title for himself
than what everyone was trying to peg on him: his self designation was Son of Man,
            son of human being,
            one who has inherited humanity by birth
                        and then manifests what it means to be fully human.

And this puts those first called by him on the line – and all the rest of us too,
            because we are all human beings.
The purpose of discipleship is to fulfill this human being,
            and to become/live into/be
                        the manifestation, the epiphany, the shining forth of God.

What does fulfilling our humanity look like?
            It is to realize, like Jesus, a perfect self offering to the Creator.
That is fulfilling discipleship –
            like Jesus, to become a living sacrifice.
Then the followers of Jesus become a light to the nations, the Light of the world.

I think of my own calling
                                    which led me to the priesthood.
My parents brought my sister and me to church every Sunday.
I was placed under the influence of the Holy –
            in terms of the Sacraments and liturgy
            and             a stained glass window above the altar
                                    depicting Matthew, chapter 25,
“Inasmuch as you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

The window illustrated the acts of mercy done for those in need
            according to the parable Jesus was telling:
                        feeding the hungry,
                        giving something to drink to the thirsty,
                        welcoming the alien,
                        clothing the naked,
                        visiting the sick and those in prison.
And in the center of the window illustrating meeting the needs of the thirsty             was a feminine figure with a chalice – a holy influence on my childhood.

At age 16 I had my Samuel experience of being called.
Like Samuel I found it confusing at first.
            (You remember, Samuel thought Eli was calling him.)
My confusion was that the call I was experiencing
                        was like a call to the priesthood,
            but this was 1963 and I was female, not male.
It would be 14 years before the Church caught up with the Holy Spirit
            and opened the way for women’s ordination.

The call of God is irresistible.
We have much less of a choice in the matter than we think.
You are not here by accident.
Everyone is potentially a candidate for a discipleship calling
            that can produce a servant useful for being a light to the world.
There is one key ingredient to calling
            and to comprehending the Epiphany,
                        to fulfilling the shining forth of God in our humanity.
That is the Holy Spirit.

Those first called by Jesus, who were drawn irresistibly to him,
            followed him throughout all he said and did,
                        went through profound loss and confusion at the Crucifixion,
            and then went through profound confusion and joy at the Resurrection.
But they didn’t fully get it until the Day of Pentecost,
            when the Resurrection Presence of Jesus
became an extension of Epiphany
            from the fulfilled humanity of Jesus
            into the Apostles and all those called from then on –
the grace of God working in us to realize our potential as human beings.

Gives cosmic scope to the expression, “be all that you can be.”

But the point is, it is the Holy Spirit at work in us,
                        not our own self-generated efforts,
            that makes it possible,
and thank God,
            because without that we certainly have not left a historical record
                        of humanity manifesting God for the most part.

The calling is too important to leave all up to our own efforts.
            God has seen to it, has provided for what is need.
If you dare, ask for the Holy Spirit to be active in your life,
            and see what happens.

You are called, if you are open to hear it, to be a light bearer,
            to be like Jesus, each in our own unique ways,
for the sake of the world and to the glory of God.


Think about it.